Saturday, September 01, 2007

The Last "Hollywood Heroes" Update!

That's right, boppers, you read it right. It's been awhile since I posted anything, so I thought I'd start off with a bang. This is the last update for "Hollywood Heroes." But never fear, I'm not abandoning the project, simply changing the name. Henceforth, the book's official title is "The Serial Squad!" Catchy, huh?And along with the name change comes an ongoing series! That's right. Thanks to a well-placed question from my wife, I've decided these guys merit an ongoing series! I kept coming up with ideas for future characters and future plots, so it became obvious I couldn't just do one graphic novel and be done with them, although the frequency of each issue (24 pages each) is not certain, adhering to the laws of time and cash flow. So, with that big news out of the way, enjoy the story so far:

1943, somewhere on a small uncharted island off the coast of Africa...

Meanwhile, somewhere in the heart of Kansas, upon a hot, wooden stage, a handful of Saturday morning serial heroes gather for a War Bond rally.

Although the lot of them never quite reached the star status of the Phantom, the Shadow or even Ray "Crash" Corrigan, to this crowd, they are all stars. Heroes.Today, their names are legend.William Waters, Olympic silver medal swimmer turned actor achieved fame in "The Underwater Empire" as the Atlantean hero the Blue Wave.Sidney Rosenthal as the crimson-clad Latin swashbuckler El Rojo.Wally "Booster" Martin as the rocketeering Nightflyer.Burt Barnes, aka the high-flying Captain Nighthawk.Dylan Morrow, Olympic gold medal-winning archer as the Scarlet Archer.The reclusive Richmond Kane as the mysterious Chimera.

And Jack Hart, the All-American Hero!"Remember, kids, don't let the Nazis win! Get your parents to buy war bonds! It's the American way!"And the crowd goes wild.

Soon after, backstage, after a few autographs for the "kids" of some barrel-chested teamsters, Booster Martin laments the lowly state of his career."I can't believe I'm hawkin' war bonds fer a livin'."

Hart assures Martin that there are worse ways to make a living, when, suddenly..."Jou gentlemen vill come vis uss."For a moment, nobody moves, until...It's Morrow to the rescue! "Let's take these Ratzi bastards, boys!"Adrenaline takes over from this point as reasonably sane men go for broke.

Like a man possessed, Jack Hart lays into them, the flying bullets all but forgotten, while Kane can't help but notice their adversaries have suddenly lost their German accents.

Morrow frantically searches for his next target while Martin puts his heavy movie prop to good use.Barnes scrambles for the wounded Nazi's discarded pistol only to discover that he is either a terrible shot or the bullets are blanks!In the heat of it all, a stray stream of cigarette smoke catches Morrow off guard. Finding it a bit odd and driven by curiosity, he follows the smell.

"Holy shit!" he gasps. "President Roosevelt!?""Would you boys care for a ride?"

Later, at an abandoned airfield in the middle of nowhere...

The "Serial Squad" is asked to appear in the photo opportunity of a lifetime. They are to follow behind a platoon of Marines sent to "a little island" to retrieve a defecting Nazi scientist, but what the American public will see when they watch the news reels is their Saturday morning heroes tackling Hitler's war machine. In these dark days of The War, such a stunt would go a long way in boosting public morale.

Barnes questions the sanity of the whole hair-brained operation, until...

Their mode of transportation, a working prototype of Captain Nighthawk's fabled Nighthawk is revealed."If my producers find out about it, they're gonna sue your ass off."

Yes, that's the wounded ersatz Nazi the heroes are talking to. But who is the little bald man looming behind him?